Theater reviews

Stage West

The atmosphere in little ion theatre is choked with testosterone and angst in its presentation of Eric Bogosian’s one-man show Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll. Part of ion’s “Double Dare” rotating repertory with E.M. Lewis’ The Gun Show, SDR&R stars ion’s executive artistic director, Claudio Raygoza, who immerses himself in 10 characters living and ranting during the post-Reagan/Daddy Bush era. His is a manic, chameleonic performance of admirable stamina, though much of the subject matter comes off as dated, even anachronistic by the standards of today’s faster paced, social-media-driven society. Tellingly, most of the laughter in the audience came from the male contingent, as Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll preoccupies itself to a considerable extent with the frustrations and anxieties of those men perpetually trapped between neurosis and machismo. (Review originally published in San Diego Citybeat on 10/11/17.)